Physiological Synchrony and Newly-formed Groups’ Outcomes: The Moderating Effects of Leader Justice

Abstract

Extant evidence supports the relationship between group social alignment processes (e.g., synchrony) and group performance. Nevertheless, to date, most studies examined such processes at late stages of group development, assuming that members must be well-acquainted to form social alignment. In today's organizations, however, individuals often work on short-term project teams, in which individuals are expected to be socially-aligned as soon as they join the team. Consistent with social identification theory, we argue here that group synchrony may be evident, yet covert, early in the life of a group even before it manifests in overt behavior. Furthermore, because members are unfamiliar with each other at this early stage, we expect them to seek guidance from external sources, in particular from leaders who treat them fairly. Given that leaders signal and align individuals to endorse collective goals, we expect their intervention to channel group synchrony toward effective group-functioning. To capture deep-seated synchrony, we assessed members' electrodermal activity (EDA), also known as galvanic skin response. Fifty 3-person groups (N = 150) were engaged in a problem-solving task while their EDA was monitored. Half of the groups were treated fairly by the experimenter, while the other half were treated unfairly. Results indicated that EDA physiological synchrony was positively related to improved performance, only when the leader treated group members fairly. Our findings provide evidence for the importance of applying neuroscience and physiological measures to address key research questions in management. We discuss other implications of our approach to both theory and practice.